There is an increasing concern over the need to economically and practically remove oil from water. Oil spills on water are usually the result of accidents occurring during the production and distribution of oil and its derivatives. Most such accidents involve ship loading and unloading, groundings, collisions, offshore drilling blowouts, and pipe fractures. Spillages in or on water, resulting from oil drilling operations at sea or whilst oil is being transported over the sea, shipwrecks and harbor pollution, are sources of the spew of oil into the water wherefore hydrocarbons, immiscible with and lighter than water, commingle with the water body. Invariably, in the case of oil spills, whether at sea or on a river or lake, the oil is driven toward or along the coastline, by wind and/or wave actions or other currants so that it is obviously essential that the same be contained, preferably before washing up at the shoreline.
Spillages from inground installations, such as storage tanks, waste dumps or landfills, are invariably the result of carelessness on the part of personnel making thoughtless or wasteful facility usage. In the case of leakage from a landfill, a waste dump or a storage tank, there is the need for hazardous waste containment and especially a method for preventing, for example, the migration and leaching of hazardous fluid substances into a water table.
Therefore, it is desired to design and develop an oil-recovery system that will (i) permit quick response to a problem, (ii) perforin good in bad conditions, such as rough water or nearness to obstacles, (iii) contain the extent of the oil spill quickly, (iv) permit easy deployment, and (v) allow for efficient and effective collection.